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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27130033">The Coloring of Life</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/linocaffe/pseuds/linocaffe'>linocaffe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stray Kids (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, side seunglix</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 06:33:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,790</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27130033</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/linocaffe/pseuds/linocaffe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>So, here is how it works: everything Jisung can see is black and white. Yes, everything. You don’t really know what colors are, it’s a concept you get explained by the endless descriptions and testimonies of people around the world who can see it. Doesn’t mean you ever get to understand it, because everywhere you lay your eyes on it’s just light and darkness and lots of grey. That’s pretty much it. </p><p>So how does color start to exist in your life? Easy, you have to meet your soulmate.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Kim Seungmin/Lee Felix</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>217</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>MINSUNG SEASON: Colourful Autumn 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Coloring of Life</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hello! this is an entry for the minsungseasons (<a href="https://twitter.com/minsungseason">@minsungseason</a> on twt) fest!! (chosen color is B&amp;W) </p><p>hope you enjoy it &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b> <em>“Colors are one of those things in life that are quale. There is no way of explaining them that will give you certainty that anyone who hasn’t experienced it will understand. So how do we explain color? Well, color is color. Let me expound this further.</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>Think of the moment when you eat something. There are very diverse characteristics of taste: sweet, sour, savory, spicy, bitter, etc. Think of when you hear something. Sounds can be loud, soft, pitching, muffled, melodic, brassy, etc. Or even touch, you can say it’s rough, hard, fluffy, smooth, and many more. Color is just like that, it’s a quality of everything you see. Transport those experiences of taste, touch and sound, to a visual one. </em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>You can already see light and darkness, those are the basic visual qualities. To put it simply, color is adding spice to those qualities. It’s like adding life to them.”</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Excerpt from “The Coloring of Life” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  by Yang Jeongin. </em>
</p><p>Well.</p><p>To put it simply, Jisung thought that was a whole load of bullshit.</p><p>So, here is how it works: everything Jisung could see was black and white. Yes, everything. You don’t really know what colors are, it’s a concept you get explained by the endless descriptions and testimonies of people around the world who can see it. Doesn’t mean you ever get to understand it. Everywhere you lay your eyes on it’s just light and darkness and lots of grey. That’s it. </p><p>So how does color start to exist in your life?</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>“In our world, finding your soulmate, that one person who is connected to you, is the one most important happening in your whole existence. It not only completes the core basis of your being, it also quite literally, adds color to your life.</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>As previously explained [refer to chapter 4], color is just the way light falls and reflects on surfaces. Is color a real thing then? Yes and no. The one thing we can assure is real is light. Color is the way our brains perceive that light, and that is why we say that color is a quale quality, it depends on the way the individual interprets it. </em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>...</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>Why can’t we see color?</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>To be able to perceive color, the brain and the human eye work together. Your eye has a thing called cones, these cones are basically receptors. When the light reflected on a surface bounces back and hits the cones, they send a signal to the brain, who processes it and transforms this information into what we know as color. </em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>Every human has these cones (a lot of them actually); the only difference between people who can discern color and those who can’t, is that the receptors of individuals who can’t are not active yet. </em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>For these dormant components to be activated, the completion of your soul is needed. In other words, you need to meet your soulmate.”</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Excerpt from “The Coloring of Life”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> by Yang Jeongin.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Jisung was very complete, thank you very much. </p><p>It always irked him how people tended to refer to those ones who haven't found their soulmates as incomplete. He wasn’t incomplete, he didn’t feel incomplete. Not seeing color didn’t mean that there was something missing from him. He had lived like this for twenty years without a problem. He was more than fine.</p><p>Jisung threw the book across the room. It bounced on a wall and hit the floor open on a page marked with red ink (because apparently red was an angry color and that was kind of the vibe he wanted to match) writing all over the page. </p><p>This was the third time Jisung read this book. He still thought it was total crap. </p><p>Like, of course the part about the cones and receptors was real, that was science. And yes, he knew it was true that meeting your soulmates made your cones start to work for some still unknown reason to doctors, but everything else was just...nonsense. </p><p>Whoever Yang Jeongin was, Jisung was sure he didn’t really know what he was talking about. He wondered if he had been one of those people who’s soulmates are their parents or grandparents or something like that, and so have been able to see color since they were born. Those people were considered lucky. Luck was winning the lottery, not that.</p><p>Thing is, your soulmate can be anyone. <em> Literally anyone. </em>From your parents, your siblings, cousins, grandparents, your childhood best friend, your neighbour, your classmate or coworker, your friend’s friend, to a total and complete stranger. Your soulmate doesn’t have to be romantic, it’s just another soul your soul is connected to.</p><p>Jisung hadn’t found his soulmate yet, but that didn’t mean his life was soulmateless. Most of the people he knew or was close to, had already had the ‘fortune’ of finding their soulmates.</p><p>His parents, for example, had met at a pretty young age. They were five and his dad had just moved to his mom’s neighbourhood. His grandma usually took her to a park near the house, where she would play around for hours and her mom would gossip with all the other moms who had taken their kids there. One day, there was a new member in the park games. The new kid came with his mom and both of them were well received by the community. His mom had taken a special liking on him, his grandma says it was almost as if she could already tell. They played together for a whole week, the little girl following the little boy like his own shadow. Neither of their moms suspected a thing, until after a week, when the boy’s mom had given him two small candies, one red and one yellow. She had told him to share one with the little girl that received him so well and was so eager to play with him as a way of thanking her. The boy gladly complied, as he had also taken a liking to her. When she was presented with the candies however, both mothers were surprised to hear she asked for the one that looked like the apples her mom used for the pie. And even more surprised, when the boy gave her the red candy without a moment of hesitation, he just said “I like apple pie.”</p><p>That’s how his grandmothers told the story, and there’s many stories like this. Everyone had a story to tell of the grand moment they started seeing color. </p><p>One he saw with his own eyes was his best friend’s story. </p><p>The most interesting thing about Seungmin’s and Felix’s tale, was that Felix already had a soulmate. </p><p>There are a few people in the world that have more than one soulmate. It’s quite rare, but it definitely has happened. </p><p>Seungmin and Jisung met Felix in a not so fun place: detention. Seungmin was mad and Jisung was sorry and they didn’t know what Felix was but he was there. They were the same age and shared grade at their high school, but they weren’t in the same class.</p><p>Jisung, troublemaker he was, had tried to miss his class and hide in the bathroom to play a new mobile game he had been obsessed with for the past weeks. Seungmin being a loyal friend, had gone along with the plan, even if he complained and tried to dissuade his friend during the whole time. Very obviously, they got caught, and detention came later. (They later learned that Felix had gotten detention for trying to score a ball of paper in the trash can but hitting his teacher in the head instead. That must not have been fun.)</p><p>Seungmin, like Jisung, had never seen color before. His life was as grey as the concrete floor of their school’s basketball court (or that’s what he was told because clearly he can’t tell since everything looks grey for him). So this one day, the three of them got detention together, and after half an hour Seungmin suddenly sits up straight abruptly and turns to Jisung.</p><p>“Yellow.” His face was pale and his eyes were wide open.</p><p>“What?” Jisung is half asleep and bored to death.</p><p>“I think I can see yellow.”</p><p>That woke him up in a second. “What do you mean? How? How do you know?”</p><p>Seungmin extended his hand and pointed out of the window. There were a few flowers planted outside. To Jisung, there was no difference in color, but by shape he knew those were most likely daisies. </p><p>“The center looks...different. It’s not grey and those are daisies so I think...I think that’s yellow.” </p><p>None of them were really sure if it was yellow or not, but one thing Seungmin assured him was that those flowers definitely didn’t look like that before. Neither did Felix’s backpack, that Seugmin insisted was totally different when he saw the boy arrive at their class.</p><p>Besides them, the only ones around the place were the teacher and Felix. Seungmin was sure he had seen Felix around before, and he also had seen the teacher. Jisung laughed at the thought of his best friend’s soulmate being their algebra teacher. However, none of them had reacted in any way through the whole hour they were there, so they were very confused. Who the hell was Seungmin’s soulmate?</p><p>The answer came two days later, when Seungmin and Felix bumped by mistake on the hallway. It was a quick encounter, both of them apologized and moved on. But not much later, Seungmin let out a loud gasp and declared that he could now see what he thought was blue.</p><p>The whole mystery resolved not much time later, when Felix ran up to them after school and very straightforward asked them if any of them had been able to see color after they met him. Both were dumbfounded but Seungmin managed to nodd. Felix smiled and explained that he already had a soulmate, however, he had never been able to see the color blue. All of the other colors were visible to him after he met his best friend Chan, but blue remained invisible. Until he met them.</p><p>That was reported to happen sometimes with people that had more than one soulmate. It was usually either they could not see one or two colors, or they could see every color but very desaturated, it turned more vibrant after they met their other soulmate. </p><p>After that the duo turned into a trio, both of them loved Felix from the beginning, the kid was the embodiment of happiness and joy, how could you not love him? Seugmin took loving him too seriously, though, and after a while they started dating. Turns out that unlike Felix’s relationship with Chan, this one soulmate <em> was </em>romantic after all. Seugmin called the other boy his sunshine, since the first color he had seen was yellow like the sun, and Felix called his boyfriend his sky, because of the missing blue like the sky. In Jisung’s opinion, it was too cheesy, but he had to admit it was cute.</p><p>All his life, almost everyday he went out, he saw people around him on the streets finding their other half. They were everywhere they looked. </p><p>It wasn’t that Jisung was jealous, no. He didn’t mind not seeing color, and he didn’t mind not knowing his soulmate. After all, there are people who never end up finding them, and they live a perfectly happy and good life. Still have their friends and partners and family, they don’t need color or ‘the perfect bond’ to have a fulfilling life.</p><p>What made Jisung so mad, was that idea that society had of almost <em> needing </em> to find your soulmate, because you needed that other half to be <em> you </em>. </p><p>Loads and loads of bullshit.</p><p>Jisung sighted and placed his presumably-red pen on the side table, while he rolled out of bed. He had agreed to meet up with his friends for lunch. He also had to buy something for Seungmin because his best friend had the wrong idea that Jisung was his errands boy. He always said he wouldn’t do it at first, but he was a good friend so he helped. Also, Jisung could eventually use this to ask for something in return...Kidding! He was a good friend. Most of the time at least.</p><p>Since he had time to spare, he decided to stop by the record shop on his way. It had been a while since he visited this place, he enjoyed collecting old records but it’s been a few months since he got one because Seungmin had scolded him for wasting too much money on them.</p><p>Not much had changed in the shop, except he didn’t recognize the guy on the counter, he must be fairly new. There were not many people at this hour, only a teenage girl with chains dressed all in black looking at the rock albums, and a guy walking around the r&amp;b section. </p><p>He went straight to the hip-hop section. There were a few albums he had in mind so he started searching for those right away. He wanted a lot of records, however in the end, his conscience with the face of Kim Seungmin appeared in his thoughts to remind him not to spend too much money at once. From the ten options on his wishlist he decided to narrow it down to three for now, and placed the others back where they were before, almost dropping one in his haste. The guy from the r&amp;b section caught it just in time before it hit the floor though, and handed it back to Jisung with a smile. Jisung finally placed it back and moved to the counter to pay.</p><p>Looking at him closely, he was sure he had never seen this guy working here before. Jisung would have noticed, the guy was handsome. He had a broad back and buff arms, he looked like he worked out a lot. </p><p>The guy smiled at Jisung and handed him back his albums in a bag. Well, Seungmin be damned, he was probably going to visit this place more frequently.</p><p>He went out of the store, now it was errand boy time. So Seungmin, being the romantic he was, had wanted to buy a flower for Felix because he wanted to surprise him since today was their day number ninehundred since they got together, however, he was working right now and he didn’t have time to go all the way to the flower shop and then back to the restaurant where they were going to eat. Jisung had to walk in front of it to arrive so it was literally on his way, which is why he asked him to buy it.</p><p>Flowers were interesting when you weren’t able to see color, when it came to things like roses for example, that had so many variations but the only thing that changed was color. It was quite funny in Jisung’s opinion. Whenever he enters the shop there’s literally a whole row of buckets filled with roses that look...absolutely the same. </p><p>He greeted the shop owner and walked over to the rose section. He checks the labels on the buckets that indicate the color of each group and grabs one from the second bucket which was what Seungmin asked for (yellow, of course). He can only hope that it’s the right one, it wouldn’t be the first time someone mislabels stuff and he ends up getting the wrong thing.</p><p>He’s about to go to the counter to pay when he suddenly stops in his tracks.</p><p>Did he…?</p><p>No, there’s no way. Right? Right?!</p><p>He closed his eyes tight and opened them again. He looks at the floor, almost scared of directing his sight anywhere else, scared of turning back and confirming what he saw. There’s absolutely no way. No way...</p><p>Jisung takes a deep breath and looks over his shoulder at the row of roses.</p><p>Grey, grey, grey, grey....not grey, also not grey.</p><p>
  <em> What the fuck? </em>
</p><p>He feels the blood drain from his face. How is that possible?</p><p>He turns around completely and walks over to the flowers again. </p><p>Red and pink. That’s what the labels on the two buckets say. Red and pink. He can see red and pink?</p><p>His head is spinning and he feels a little dizzy. He starts walking over the place, reading the labels of every flower in sight. </p><p>Tulips, poppies, marigolds, lilies, camellias...All look grey except the ones in red.</p><p>Jisung is the most confused he’s ever been in his life. Half an hour ago the world was absolutely grey for him, why did he suddenly start seeing color? <em> How is this possible? </em> The thought repeats over and over in his head. <em> There’s no way.</em></p><p>He stumbles over to the owner and pays for the flower. She looks at him strangely, Jisung probably looks a little bit out of his mind right now. He feels absolutely dazed. One word, the only thing in his head: how?</p><p> </p><p>---------------------------</p><p> </p><p>“YOU MET YOUR SOULMATE!” Felix basically screams excitedly.</p><p>Jisung shushes him. He had arrived at the restaurant, and as soon as Seungmin arrived five minutes after him, he noticed something was wrong with his friend. He took him inside and made him drink some water, and as soon as he calmed down a little and Felix arrived, Jisung told them everything.</p><p>“No! I mean, probably. I don’t know!” He groans and hides his head behind his arms placed on the table. </p><p>“So you see red now?” Seungmin intercepts. “Are you sure?”</p><p>“Were you sure when you saw yellow for the first time? Yes, I’m sure.” He raises his head again. “I mean, it’s definitely not grey, that much I know, and the labels said red. And pink, which is composed of red so it makes sense.” What it doesn’t make sense is why he is seeing it.</p><p>“Then that means you did meet your soulmate. You know that’s the only way.” </p><p>And Seungmin is right, of course he is. But Jisung’s brain still hurts, all of this was so sudden.</p><p>“Think of what you did today, who did you talk to?” Felix asks, his mouth half filled with sushi.</p><p>“I don’t know? A lot of people?”</p><p>“There must be someone memorable. Someone you liked? Did no one react?”</p><p>“You know it’s delayed sometimes. I was at the flower shop when it started. The only one there was the flower shop owner.” </p><p>“Oh, Mina noona! I like her, she's nice.” Felix seemed cheerful, fascinated with the story. Seungmin just looked curious. Jisung was the only one who felt like dying.</p><p>“Yeah, I’ve been to that shop several times. Seungmin would know, he’s the one who sends me there.” Seungmin glared at him, his boyfriend smiled and grabbed the rose and sniffed at it. </p><p>“I’ve seen her a lot of times before, so it’s clearly not her. Plus, I'm pretty sure she has a soulmate” Felix nodded and muttered 'Nayeon noona'.</p><p>“The bus I took was almost empty but there were a few people, no way to know.” Jisung continued. “In the record shop-” He stopped. The record shop...</p><p>“What? Do you know who it was?” Seungmin leaned forward expectantly.</p><p>“No, I just- There was this guy…”</p><p>“Ohhh! Was he good looking? Was he your type? Or do you think he’s just a best friend type of soulmate like me and Chan?” Felix clapped his hands excitedly.</p><p>Seungmin let out a little laugh. “Lixie, let him speak.”</p><p>“Sorry! This is just so exciting! Now we all have our soulmates!” </p><p>They used to joke that Felix had a soulmate for him, since he had two. Now Felix was being happy for him, because Jisung couldn’t even process it.</p><p>“No, really, I saw so many people today. Greeted a few so I can’t even narrow it down too much with the ones I spoke with. No one reacted either so...” Jisung shrugged. “There’s really no way to know.”</p><p>Seungmin sighed, Lix almost deflated.</p><p>Jisung popped a portion of sushi into his mouth. He was starting to feel calmer now, the shock almost gone. “It’s fine though. You guys know I’m fine with not having a soulmate, it just took me by surprise, that’s all.”</p><p>“But that's the thing, Ji.” Seungmin said as soon as he swallowed. “You <em> do </em>have one.”</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>--------------------</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>“What happens once you meet your soulmate?</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>There have been endless studies about this part, the possibilities vary depending on the person, however, most of them had rounded to the same conclusions. </em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>The NACS (Neurological Association of Color Science) indicates that about 48% of the population starts seeing one color at a time after meeting their soulmate for the first time. A 25% sees two colors, 19% three or more, and 8% all at once.</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>A 27% reports to start seeing color as soon as the soulmate bond is completed, meaning at the right second of interaction with their soulmate. The bigger part (a 73%) report that it takes some time for the effect to be seen. It can be minutes or even hours.</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>It is also stated that there's not a clear reason or pattern of the order in which the colors are added. Many have speculated that it can either be the person’s or their soulmate’s favorite color, the color of the first thing they look at after seeing their soulmate, the first color your parents saw (meaning it might be hereditary), or it might be totally at random.”</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Excerpt from “The Coloring of Life”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> by Yang Jeongin. </em>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>His stop was next, so he closed the book app and placed his phone back on his pocket. </p><p>Jisung had read this part over and over again for the past week. He fell on the most common side of the statistics: the 48% that only saw one color, and the 73% that had a delayed reaction. His parent’s first color was red too, he wondered if it was hereditary. He didn’t know what to do with this information though. </p><p>Felix and Seungmin had tried to convince him to walk around the places he had visited before he was able to see red. For a week he had refused, he didn’t really know why but he was scared. It probably would have been better if he never met his soulmate, not seeing color was good for him, he never really needed it. But now there was so much pressure, so much expectations, and seeing red was still so...weird. It popped everywhere, and even if he tried to ignore it and try to pretend that everything was normal, that stupid color always called to him.</p><p>He picked up his phone again as soon as he was out of the bus and walking, when it buzzed with a message. </p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lixie: ji!! how is it going??? have you found anything??</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Ji: i just got off the bus…</b>
</p><p>
  <b>Lixie: oh :((</b>
</p><p>
  <b>well tell us if you find anything </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Ji: will! </b>
</p><p> </p><p>Not even five minutes had passed when his phone rang again. </p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lixie: anythinggg???</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Seungmo: lix he’s not going to be able to see anything if he's looking at his phone</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lixie: oh</b>
</p><p>
  <b>YOU’RE RIGHT</b>
</p><p>
  <b>sorry ji</b>
</p><p>
  <b>keep looking</b>
</p><p>
  <b>I won't bother anymore</b>
</p><p>
  <b>but tell us if you find anything !!! </b>
</p><p> </p><p>Jisung smiled. Felix was so excited about this it was honestly adorable. But Seungmin was right, in fact, he just crashed with someone because he was walking looking at his phone. He apologized and continued walking without even looking up. Honestly this happened frequently, Jisung wasn’t very good at multitasking. </p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Ji: don’t worry lix i will</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lixie: okie okie</b>
</p><p>
  <b>good luck!! :D</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Seungmo: you’re so cute</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lixie: no you &lt;3</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Alright, that that was his cue to leave.</p><p>He continued following his footsteps from that day but nothing rings a bell. He doesn’t see anyone he recognizes and no one recognizes him so he guesses there’s really no point in doing this.</p><p>Jisung stops for a few minutes to get something to drink. He had been walking for over half an hour and the weather was a bit hot so he started to get thirsty. After getting something cold and stepping out of the convenience store, he’s about to resume his walking, but this time the other way around, back to the bus stop and home, when he sees someone he does recognize. </p><p>Jisung was just outside of the store when he saw the guy from the record shop. He’s wearing a black hoodie and black jeans (he doesn’t need to see the other colors to know that, you can tell black and white because they literally are dark and light), and they look really good on him, he looks really cool. </p><p>He was walking with his headphones on, looking at his phone, so he never directed his eyes where Jisung was standing. He doesn’t think he would’ve remembered him anyway. Jisung stands there looking at him for a few seconds until the guy turns a corner and he’s gone. He’s really handsome, a lot like Jisung’s type. He wonders if there’s any possibility of him being his soulmate.</p><p>He thinks about going back to the record shop and the flower shop again, but he’s tired and frankly he feels kind of dumb doing this, so he decides against it. </p><p>As he’s walking back the red keeps bothering him. Red banners, red flowers, shops painted red, red dresses and shirts and pants, red cars, so many red cars. Everything is so red. At least the clothes he’s wearing are not red -black pants and according to Seungmin, who gave it to him, a green hoodie. The bottle he just bought is not red, he made sure of that. He checked it again, and it instantly fell from his hands.</p><p>
  <em> What the hell. </em>
</p><p>He stays there for what it feels like an eternity, not being able to take his eyes away from the bottle. It’s so…</p><p>He whips his head up, looking around until his eyes go up at the sky. It’s pretty clear right now, not many clouds floating around. </p><p>
  <em> It’s so blue. </em>
</p><p>One thing he knows, the sky is blue. He understands what Seungmin meant when he said that the color feels sort of cold. </p><p>Blue. The bottle is so blue. The sky too. And a car, and two, three, four. </p><p><em> What the hell. </em>His mind repeats it. </p><p>A new color means he saw his soulmate again. There’s only one person in common at both times. Only one option. Jisung thinks he’s sure now.</p><p> </p><p>---------------</p><p> </p><p>It took him two whole days to muster enough courage to go back to the record shop. He kept thinking about that guy. If he was really his soulmate…</p><p>Jisung keeps wondering what to do, how to act, what to say. He didn’t want to make it awkward. He also wasn’t a hundred percent sure he had the right person, even if Felix kept telling him he must be the one, that it was too much of a coincidence. Seungmin was a bit more wary just like him. Although Seugmin’s nature was to be cautious, Jisung was just nervous.</p><p>At the end, he decided to start the conversation in a way both of them would be comfortable, something he knew for sure they had in common: music. Or that’s what Jisung was hoping. The guy worked in a record shop, he should know about that, right?</p><p>He entered the shop and walked around for a few minutes, pretending he was looking at the albums because he was too anxious to actually pay attention to what was on his hands. After he couldn’t hold it anymore, he approached the guy who was looking at his phone on the counter. He had his headphones on and was apparently too interested in what was playing on his device. Jisung cleared his throat and the guy looked up.</p><p>“Oh, sorry. Do you need something?” He had seemed a bit intimidating before, but his smile was polite and warm. </p><p>“Hmm, yeah.” How do you control your nerves when talking to your possible soulmate for the first time? “I was wondering if you could give me some music recommendations?”</p><p>The guy instantly perked up at that. He took his headphones off and placed them on top of his phone on the counter.</p><p>“Sure! What kind of music do you like?” </p><p>“Hmmm, I usually listen to hip-hop, rap. I like rock, R&amp;B, and ballads too, though. But yes, hip-hop is my favorite.” He scratched his head.</p><p>The guy instantly stood up. “You asked the right person then. Here, follow me.” He motioned Jisung to go after him so he did. </p><p>As soon as they arrived on the hip-hop section, the other started talking about his favorite artists and groups, a lot of them Jisung knew and loved, and they excitedly discussed their favorite songs. Some of them Jisung was unfamiliar with, but the guy even went back for his phone and animatedly played some of the songs for him. He even recommended some underground, not very well known artists, and Jisung recommended some back. He was in awe at this guy’s knowledge in the genre, even knowing quite a lot about technical stuff. They had so many of their favorite artists in common, even the underrated ones. If anything, Jisung was happy to finally find someone with the same music tastes as him.</p><p>Losing track of time, they talked like this for a while, until someone came to ask for help on finding a specific album. </p><p>While the guy helped the customer, Jisung settled on what album to buy. Usually he only got albums he had already heard and loved, but this time he took a risk and picked one of the recent recommendations he got. He went back to pay, the guy having just checked the other customer's payment. </p><p>As soon as he saw him, the employee smiled at him. He very straightforwardly asked for Jisung’s number since he still had a lot of music to recommend. Jisung was a bit taken aback by it and he was pretty sure that he blushed lightly, but he happily complied. </p><p>Jisung thought this was going better than expected. At best, he finally found his soulmate, and more than that, he really liked him. The other scenario was that he had been wrong and it was someone else. Still, he had found a new friend. </p><p>The guy had said he’ll compile a list and will send him a message as soon as his shift finished. Jisung nodded and smiled. He turned around and walked over to the door, before he reached it, the other called back at him. </p><p>“By the way, so that you can save me on your phone. I’m Changbin.”</p><p> </p><p>------------------</p><p> </p><p>Jisung had taken the bus, walked all the way to his house, played his new album (which he was really glad he got because he liked a lot), took a shower, had some ramen for dinner, went back to his room and laid down on his bed while he checked for any new messages from any of his friends, before it hit him.</p><p>He looked around his room, flipped through several illustrated books and magazines on his shelf, looked outside the window, took his phone again and opened and closed several apps. That was weird. </p><p>About four hours had passed since he last talked to Changbin, however red and blue remained the only colors Jisung could see. He opened a color palette app that he had been using to get accustomed to all the shades those two colors had. The app had all the colors available, so he tested all of the other ones, but there was no change. Everything else was still very much grey. </p><p>Both times where a color was added had been not too long after he saw Changbin. Forty minutes at most, but it’s been a lot more than that. Was it possible he had been wrong to think the other boy was his soulmate? It just would be too much of a coincidence, the only one to be there both times had been him.</p><p>Jisung stayed awake for two more hours, but everything remained exactly the same. Maybe he should go to sleep, and when he wakes up a new color would be visible. Settling on that, he got ready to bed and let tomorrow Jisung deal with this mystery.</p><p> </p><p>--------------------</p><p> </p><p>It’s been a whole two weeks since Jisung first befriended Changbin. No new colors yet.</p><p>He had discussed this with Felix and Seungmin several times. They were also a bit confused about the situation. </p><p>“It might not be him.” Seungmin commented. “However, I saw four colors after I met Felix, after the fourth a week passed before I was able to see a new one. It might be that.”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s possible.” Felix agreed. “I saw all one after the other everytime I met Chan, the only one missing at the end was blue, and we know why. But Chan said the colors stopped coming after the fifth, took him two whole weeks to see the rest. It’s not uncommon.” </p><p>Something still fell off for Jisung, and he could see the same skepticism in Seungmin’s face despite him being the one to bring up the idea.</p><p>It was not only that one time. Jisung had met up with Changbin nine times since then. He had gone back to the shop to chat and Changbin had proposed to have lunch together so they did. He had gotten to know him much better, and they got along really well, but Jisung’s world still looked red and blue and grey. </p><p>Another thing that bothered him a lot was the fact that Changbin hadn’t said anything yet. He didn’t even know if he already had a soulmate. Could he be like Felix? Was it possible that he already had a soulmate and so since he could see almost all colors he hadn’t noticed he could finally see the last one missing?</p><p>Something told him that was highly unlikely. Something being his gut, Felix, and Professor Yang Jeongin.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>“The cases of several soulmates are extremely rare (being a 1.8% of the population). An individual with two souls being connected to him is reported to see either two things: </em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>      1.Almost all colors -except one or two-, after meeting their first soulmate. </em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>     2. They can see all colors, but the vibrance and saturation of those is low, making them opaque and dull.</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>The first soulmate is more impactful to the brain, nonetheless it’s not the completion that it’s needed. Just as with the first one, one can easily tell the moment the bond is complete. When the final colors are added or their saturation increases, it’s just as noticeable as it is the first time, or as it is for the average human with one soulmate.” </em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Excerpt from “The Coloring of Life”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> by Yang Jeongin. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>So it’s only natural Jisung hadn’t commentend anything. He was being more dissuaded every day that passed.</p><p>There was one more thing that kept nagging his thoughts. </p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>“An 93% of the people who have met their soulmates state that the colors appear after having made direct contact with them -that being: physical contact, eye contact, or have exchanged words with one another. </em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>Studies have been made, and it is indeed a rare occurrence for a soulmate bond to solidify without any kind of contact being made first. Only about a 7% had been able to see a color with one one of the individuals in a bond being aware of the other. A two-way exchange is usually needed.”</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Excerpt from “The Coloring of Life”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> by Yang Jeongin. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>That second time on the street Changbin hadn’t even seen him. He had known this since beginning, but he had thought maybe he might be part of that 7%. After meeting his hyung more times, he started doubting this a lot. </p><p>But here was the thing, he hadn't talked with anyone besides the cashier in the convenience store, and just like with the flower shop owner, he had been there way more than once and he knew the guy, so it clearly wasn’t him. </p><p>Then who else?</p><p>This whole deal was stressing him too much. He just wished everything went back to normal and that the color he was able to see would stop being everywhere, like mocking. He had always been fine without a soulmate. All his life he had heard all these amazing stories about meeting your soulmate, so romantic and touching, but this was just making him so confused and annoyed he had started to lose sleep.</p><p>He blames society and it’s expectations. If they hadn't put some much weight to this, if they hadn’t made such a big deal out of this, he wouldn’t be feeling so bewildered right now. He wanted to go back to the time he genuinely didn’t care. Color be damned, life was so much easier before.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>-------------------</p><p> </p><p>It’s been a week since the last time he went to the record shop, caught up on his school work, so he thought about paying Changbin a visit today that he was free. </p><p>As soon as Jisung came in, Changbin received him warmly, and since the place was almost empty at this hour -much like the first time Jisung saw Changbin-, they just sat behind the counter to talk. The eldest showed him some of the samples he had made for a project, -Jisung had learned the other studied music production at university-, and once again he was shocked at how good Changbin was at this. </p><p>He had been animatedly explaining the process of making them, when a loud sound came from the door.</p><p>“Changbinahhhhh!”</p><p>Changbin’s back was to the door, but apparently he didn’t need to see who had just come in to recognize whoever had been calling. He rolled his eyes but let out a chuckle. </p><p>“Isn’t it too early for you to come in and bother me?” Changbin answered back as he turned around to meet the owner of the voice.</p><p>The other guy approached Changbin and squished his cheeks while doing a kissy face. Changbin rolled his eyes again. “You’re so annoying.”</p><p>“Then should I go? I’ll warn you though, I’ll take my snacks with me.” He shook the bag he had in his hands teasingly. Changbin glared at him but didn’t comment further.</p><p>The new guy placed the bag on top of the counter. Just right then, he seemed to notice Jisung’s presence.</p><p>“Oh. Hi.” He looked at him interested.</p><p>“Hello.” Jisung bowed his head. </p><p>“This is the guy I told you about.” Changbin introduced Jisung. “Jisung, this is my very annoying best friend, Minho.”</p><p>Minho was taller than both of them, he had long legs that made him look like a model. His dark hair was a bit long, his bangs fell around his face framing it nicely. He had a very tall nose bridge and dark eyes that sparkled where the light hit them. Overall, he had to admit the guy was very good looking, even if he wasn’t Jisung’s type.</p><p>“Oh so you’re Changbin’s new friend? Well, you are instantly my friend then. If Changbin liked you then I guess I will too.”</p><p>Jisung laughed at how straightforward the guy was. Minho, that was his name. </p><p>“Nice to meet you.” He answered back.</p><p>Minho smiled and dragged a stool next to Jisung. Up close, he reminded him of someone but he couldn’t quite place who. Was it someone from any of his classes? No, he didn’t think so. There was something about him that made Jisung think he had seen him before, even though he knows he hasn't. </p><p>After a while he decided he was glad about several things. First about Minho’s snacks because the kimbap was really good and he was glad Minho had shared some of it with him. And second, he was glad Minho had been so welcoming and had effortlessly befriended him. Because Jisung really liked him. </p><p>The other boy was very fun to be with. He was charming, energetic and loud, and kept constantly bickering with Changbin but in a totally playful way. He talked to Jisung as if he already knew him for a long time, which made him feel way more relaxed and comfortable around the other. He also had some music tastes in common with him, since he said he really liked R&amp;B.</p><p>One thing he was curious about though, was that he kept catching Minho looking at him with curiosity in his eyes. He didn’t even try to hide it, he looked at him almost as if he was expecting something.</p><p>“Well, I’m very sad to disappoint you,” he suddenly stood up after a while, “but I actually have to go now.” Minho placed a hand on his chest as if this was the world’s worst tragedy. </p><p>“Pff, you think too highly of yourself.” Changbin huffed and crossed his arms.</p><p>Jisung had to admit, he <em> was </em> a bit disappointed. Minho was very enjoyable to be around.</p><p>“Don’t lie, I know you always miss me.”</p><p>“Hurry up and find your soulmate so that you can leave me alone.”</p><p>Minho turned to Jisung. “Do you see how mean he is to me? And I’m nothing but a good friend. I’m hurt.”</p><p>He looked so dramatically offended that Jisung laughed out loud, which made the other smile at him, pleased.</p><p>“Talking about your soulmate.” He pointed at Minho with his chin. “I see you have decided to make a fashion statement.”</p><p>He was probably talking about Minho’s bright red velvet button up. Jisung had noticed it as soon as he entered the shop, how could he not? Red insisted on being present everywhere nowadays. For once, Jisung wasn’t that much annoyed by it.</p><p>“Right? I think I look good in red.”</p><p>Truth was, he did.</p><p>“Nothing extraordinary.” Changbin shrugged. “I never really liked red.”</p><p>“Ah, this guy…” He directed his word at Jisung again. “His soulmate is his noona, so he doesn’t understand what color is for us normal people, since he practically was born seeing it.” </p><p>There it was, the answer to Changbin's soulmate mystery. So that confirmed what Jisung suspected: it wasn't him. </p><p>“Having a family member as your soulmate is normal too, what are you even saying?” Changbin countered.</p><p>“Whatever, if I can see this thing now I might as well take advantage of it to look good.” He striked a pose, placing one hand on his hip and with the other made an L shape over his nose.</p><p>“You look the same whether you see it or not.” Changbin rolled his eyes and answered simply.</p><p>“Yeah, you’re right, I always look good.” He threw a wink at his friend, who frowned and looked disgusted. </p><p>Minho said goodbye to both of them, but not before making Jisung promise to come again when he was around. Apparently, he truly had liked Jisung too.</p><p>After Minho left, a question appeared in Jisung’s mind. Something Changbin had said…</p><p>“You told Minho hyung to find his soulmate...but he can see color?”</p><p>Changbin nodded. </p><p>“He’s a bit of an interesting case. It’s quite complicated and neither of us really understands but he doesn’t know who his soulmate is, however he started seeing color a few weeks ago. Happened right here actually. Scared the crap out of me when he screamed 'COLOR!' out of nowhere.” He chuckled.</p><p>Jisung blinked a few times. His mind had stopped and it refused to work again. That sounded so similar…</p><p>Minho and Jisung had never met before, so it was impossible but…</p><p>Changbin excused himself as a customer came in to ask for recommendations on a record player.</p><p>Jisung’s phone buzzed on top of the table. A notification could be seen on the lit up screen.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lixie: [photo attachment]</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;333333333</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Jisung unlocked his phone and opened Felix’s notification right away, but as soon as the chat opened, his hands went limp and his phone slipped away, clashing to the floor. </p><p>On it’s screen, his friend’s message could be seen. After Seungmin gifted him so many flowers, his boyfriend had decided to plant some of them and make a small garden of his own. Felix had been taking maximum care of it, and every time something new grew, he would proudly share a photo of the progress with them. Since all Seugmin gave him was yellow flowers because of the meaning it held for them, Felix’s small garden was filled with the color. Jisung knew it, but he could clearly<em> see it </em>now. </p><p>Which made absolutely no sense, since he wasn't supposed to be able to see it. Daisies, sunflowers, and a lot of roses. All yellow. </p><p>He picked his phone up from the floor and stared at it dumbfounded. He kept thinking that this didn’t make any sense, but he was just starting to realize that maybe it did. At least a little bit. </p><p>Jisung had been shocked at how similar Minho's experience had been to his own. He had started to see color a few weeks ago -red at that-, but he had no clue as to who his soulmate was. That was a strange coincidence, most people could easily recognize who their soulmates are, which is exactly why Jisung had been so confused with his experience. And for Minho to go exactly through the same thing, around the same time and place...</p><p>“Hyung.” </p><p>Changbin had arrived at the counter again. He hummed in acknowledgment.</p><p>“Do you know what day Minho hyung started seeing color?”</p><p>“The exact date? Mmm, no. But it was a little over a month ago. Like a month and a week maybe. Why?”</p><p>A month and five days to be exact. On June 17th. He knows because that was Seungmin’s and Felix’s nine hundredth day together, which is why he got him that flower. It was July 23rd today, which meant a month and five days as of today.</p><p>Exactly a month and five days since Minho and Jisung had seen each other for the first time.</p><p> </p><p>---------------</p><p> </p><p>Minho was his soulmate. That made no sense, and at the same time out of all the possibilities this was the one that made more sense. </p><p>All the way home from the record shop he had been walking through that day in his head again. He remembered nothing special happening, until he went to the record shop. Today's realization was apparently what his brain needed to finally remember the guy from the R&amp;B section that had saved the album Jisung had dropped. That was why Minho seemed familiar, because he had seen him there before. </p><p>Well that explained one thing at least.</p><p>What still had no explanation was the second time he saw color. He didn’t see him anywhere near that day. That still made just as much sense as with Changbin.</p><p>It was already late at night, Jisung had tossed and turned in bed for hours but his mind was running around in circles. He couldn’t believe he had finally found his soulmate. Even though he never liked the idea of a soulmate that much, he had to admit, he was kind of excited. Though he would never say that out loud.</p><p>He wondered what Minho would think once he told him. How would he tell him? Or maybe Minho already knew? After all, if Jisung saw yellow after seeing him today, Minho must have seen a new color too, so he must know. Or did he know from before? Will he approach him as shameless and forward as he had today? That would make this so much easier.</p><p>Jisung also had some unpleasant thoughts. Minho had seemed to like him, but what if he ended up not liking him after? What if he was wrong once again? Thinking he finally found an answer and then having his hopes crushed once more.</p><p>Not for the first time in the day he wished this whole deal was over. He wished everything was back to how it was before. He was perfectly content with just being Minho’s friend, just like with Changbin and Seungmin and Felix. There was no need for soulmates, they didn’t make a difference in Jisung’s life, he could love someone just as much without the need for a special bond.</p><p>After half an hour more of not being able to sleep, he decided to get his body moving. Sometimes that helped him better to relax and settle down when he was too nervous. He didn’t know if it would work this time, but at least he could try.</p><p>Changing into his jeans and his green hoodie (which gave Jisung some comfort since it was one of the only things that still looked grey) he went out of his house for a walk. Even this late at night, he could still see the colors clearly. They looked back at him, mocking. Jisung started to count grey things. Trees were still grey, the sign of his favorite ramen shop was grey, a few cars passing by were grey. He also counted the white and black things, he could rely on those to never change, they will always remain constant. </p><p>He didn’t have any specific destiny in mind, he just wanted to walk for as long as it took him to feel a little calmer. But apparently his feet were working against him, because after a while he began to realize where he was going. He could already see the guitar shaped sign from here. He didn’t want to go there, he had no reason to go really, it’s not even open this late, but his lizard brain kept telling his legs to move and he couldn’t oppose it. </p><p>Not until he’s practically at the door does he realizes there’s already someone there. </p><p>
  <em> Oh, no… </em>
</p><p>Because he knows that red velvet shirt.</p><p>Trying to be as discreet as possible, he starts to turn around trying to escape, but it’s too late because he sees Minho standing up abruptly, and he’s looking at him.</p><p>“It was you.” </p><p>One thing he had predicted right, he could count on Minho to be direct. </p><p>Jisung didn’t see any point in running away now, so he walked over to Minho and sat down with his back to the store right beside where Minho was when he arrived. The other followed him after a second. </p><p>Too late he wished he had thought more about this moment, he wished he could be more prepared instead of just being here with shaky hands and a dry mouth, no words coming out of him. Once again, he didn’t have to worry much about it, because if Minho is one thing, is consistent, so he spoke first. </p><p>“It’s you.” He seemed to doubt it for a second. “Right?”</p><p>Jisung nodded, head propped on his knees. He still couldn’t look back at him. </p><p>Minho stayed silent for a few minutes. Jisung looked at him out of the corner of his eye, he was looking straight ahead, his hands playing nervously with the fabric of his shirt. It reminded him of a cat and a small laugh escaped his throat. The sound seemed to shake him awake from his thoughts. </p><p>“What?”</p><p>Jisung shook his head but he was smiling.</p><p>“What’s so funny?” He insisted.</p><p>“Do you like cats?” Jisung asked, still not looking directly at his face.</p><p>Minho cocked his head. “How do you know? Do I smell like cats?”</p><p>The younger boy giggled again, and pointed at his hands still tugging at the soft material. When Minho understood what he meant he laughed too. He didn’t comment anything else after that though.</p><p>After a few more minutes, Jisung finally decided to look at him in the eyes. To his surprise, Minho was already looking at him closely, the same curious expression from earlier that day showing on his face.</p><p>“I don’t think you remembered me, right?” Minho began. </p><p>He shook his head again. “Not until today. After you left and I saw...another color. And Changbin told me about your experience too.” Minho hummed and something clicked on Jisung’s head. “But you did? Remember me, I mean.”</p><p>“Yes.” He answered simply. </p><p>“So you must have known it was me.”</p><p>“Believe it or not, I didn’t. I didn’t connect you with the first time until today either. I remembered the second time.”</p><p>“That’s what I don’t understand. I didn’t see you anywhere around me that time.” It was the last piece in the puzzle and Jisung couldn't seem to find where to place it.</p><p>“That’s the thing. You didn’t see me at all, so you crashed with me.” It looked like he expected a reaction from Jisung, but when he saw the other’s blank face he looked kind of disappointed. “You don’t remember yet?” </p><p>Jisung was about to tell him he didn’t when he remembered Felix’s messages and his reckless walking. He would have never thought about it because of how common it was. </p><p>“OH!” He pointed at the oldest, mouth agape and eyes wide. “That was you?!”</p><p>“Hmhm. You didn’t even look up after you bumped your head against me, but I guess that was more than enough contact for our brains.”</p><p>Finally, it all made complete sense. Even if Jisung hadn’t looked at him, the contact was there, like Minho said, physical contact, even for a second, was enough to make their bond spark again.</p><p>“Green looks good on you.” Minho said absolutely out of nowhere.</p><p>“What?” He turned to him, confused. Minho was looking down at him, and when Jisung followed his eyes he noticed it was because he was looking at his hoodie. Yes, his green hoodie, which he could now <em> really </em>tell it was green. Great.</p><p>“So it really is you.” It came out almost as a whisper, but Minho still heard it.</p><p>“I thought we had settled that already.” His soulmate let out with a chuckle.</p><p>“I just wanted to be extra sure. All of this was so stressful for me. All that color...and couldn’t find out why.” Jisung shrugged.</p><p>“Well, we are sure now. And you found me in the end, right?”</p><p>“How did you know that was green?” If he had never seen it before now there was no way of knowing. He knew because he knew Seungmin’s gift.</p><p>“Look at the trees.”</p><p>Yeah, that made sense. Most of the trees around them had stopped being grey, and everyone knew trees were green, so it was just two plus two.</p><p>“Now what?” Jisung spoke after a long silence.</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“Now that we know.” He hugged himself.</p><p>“Well nothing changes much.” Minho said while raising a shoulder.</p><p>“What? Of course it does!” He sat straight up, the comment taking him a little by surprise. It was such a huge deal for Jisung, how could Minho say that nothing much changed?</p><p>“I guess with the colors, yeah. But I was already planning on being your friend. That still stands.” His smile was warm.</p><p>“But it’s different.”</p><p>“Different how?”</p><p>“We are supposed to be connected or something.” Jisung hugged his legs again, feeling a bit shy when talking about it. It was still so new.</p><p>Minho didn’t speak for a whole minute, which made Jisung very nervous. </p><p>“I’m going to suppose you have other friends besides me and Changbin.” </p><p>“Of course I do.” Jisung answered kind of defensive but also confused at the comment.</p><p>“Don’t you feel connected to them? In any way?” Minho was looking down, playing with his shirt again.</p><p>“Sure, they are my best friends.” </p><p>Jisung never had doubted that. And that’s why he never felt like he needed a soulmate. His bond with his friend’s wasn’t magical or special or whatever, it was pretty much normal, but it was good that way. It was all he needed. </p><p>“And you didn’t need a soulmate bond for that.” Minho concluded just as he had.</p><p>“It’s just...the way people talk about it. They way books make it look, as if it’s such a huge deal. I don’t want to need it, don’t want to fall into that narrative of being complete but-but now that I’m here it’s just so different, I don’t know how to feel about it. And no offence but I kind of wished everything went back to how it was before, it was easier…”</p><p>“That damned professor Yang Jeongin…” Minho had clearly liked the books as much as Jisung did.</p><p>“Oh my god, I can’t stand him!”</p><p>Both of them laughed loudly, glad they shared the same sentiment. After the laughter died down Minho spoke again.</p><p>“Just find a way it works for you and do it that way. Life is already too complicated by itself. If you don’t want to make it a big deal then don’t do it. Take it easy, pretend as if I was just another friend you met if you must. Your life is your own. Your experiences and your friends are your own. Don’t let anyone tell you how you should feel, and don’t let good things get ruined just because you are not living them how they say you supposedly should.”</p><p>“Didn’t you just do exactly that?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Tell me how I should feel.”</p><p>“Shut up, that’s different. Hey, I’m trying to console you and be a good friend! We just learned we are soulmates and you are already being like this! I want a refund!” Minho exclaimed.</p><p>“I don’t think there’s such a thing as a soulmate refund.”</p><p>“I want it anyway!”</p><p>“Tough luck, you’re stuck with me.” Like a child, he stuck out his tongue at him. He felt comfortable around him.</p><p>Minho frowned and huffed, but something in his expression made him look like he wasn’t really mad about it.</p><p>“Weren’t you nervous when you first saw color?” His soulmate seemed so relaxed about this whole thing, Jisung still had no idea how, when he himself was freaking out.</p><p>“I’m not gonna lie, it scared me at first, but then it was just fun.” He said excitedly.</p><p>“God, I wish I was you.” Jisung placed his head on his hand.</p><p>“Everyone does.” He said with a smirk.</p><p>Jisung snorted. “Shut up.”</p><p>“I was always very curious about color. I was a bit nervous at first. But mostly I was just excited about meeting my soulmate and seeing color.” </p><p>“It’s not what I expected.” Jisung admitted.</p><p>“Me or the colors?”</p><p>“Both?” Nothing about any of this was what Jisung had expected at all.</p><p>“Did you want your soulmate to be some super hot noona or what?” Minho raised his eyebrows clearly implying something.</p><p>“Not really. I don’t have much interest in...women.” He confessed.</p><p>“Oh, good! That’s going to make things a lot easier.”</p><p>“What does that mean?” </p><p>Minho just stood up, brushed his pants, and started walking away. Leaving a confused Jisung behind. After a few steps he turned around and called for him.</p><p>“C’mon, let’s go, it’s late!”</p><p>“Hyung! What does that mean?!” He repeated as he ran behind his soulmate.</p><p> </p><p>----------</p><p> </p><p>Jisung wasn’t much of a flower-giver, but honestly Seungmin had insisted. He had observed that even if he wasn’t a flower guy, Minho was. And of course Seungmin was right, he always was. Just as he was right when he kept insisting Minho and Jisung seemed like romantic soulmates and would eventually end up together, even when Jisung strongly denied it many times, he still ended up being right.</p><p>Standing here, in front of the roses section in the flower shop, he remembered the first time he saw color right on this place. Grey was still dominating then, now the only gray things were the ones that were actually grey, but here in the flower shop there weren't many. There was color everywhere. After a year, Jisung could confidently say it didn’t bother him at all.</p><p>It had taken a lot of time. Jisung hadn’t accustomed to it easily. The society prefabricated ideas and his own fears had made it a little hard for him to get used to color, but with the help of a certain someone it was way more tolerable. </p><p>Minho had made the whole experience as fun as his personality. Jisung would wake up to find messages with dumb monochromatic drawings of him, would get disgusting color chocolate chips on his kimbap, that one time Minho broke into his house with the help of Felix to leave his bed filled with colorful confetti, that other time they went out together and Minho was wearing what Changbin had named ‘the biggest fashion crime of the century’, since every piece of clothing he was wearing was a different color -including mismatched socks, shoes, and earrings, and a silly colorful headband-, yet somehow he still looked unrealistically good.</p><p>Slowly, Jisung started associating color with Minho’s stupid pranks, and with him overall. Every time he saw red he remembered that first rose, when he saw blue he thought the self portrait he had made that was now hanging in Jisung’s living room, when he taught of yellow it was the flower he had given him on their first date -courtesy of Felix of course-, with green the image of Minho wearing his favorite green hoodie came up in his head, orange was both of them playing on the autumn leaves like little kids, purple for Minho’s favorite record playing over and over again whenever he stayed over.</p><p>It was an interesting feeling, being here buying a flower for his own soulmate this time. He decided to get one of every color for a very colorful bouquet. </p><p>When he arrived at the restaurant Minho was already waiting. There was no fashion crime this time, in fact he looked incredibly handsome in his button up long-sleeved pink shirt and tight blue jeans. But again, Minho looked good in everything. </p><p>“Waiting for someone? Or may I join you?” </p><p>Minho looked up after hearing his voice and smiled at him endearingly. </p><p>“I was waiting for my boyfriend, actually. But I don't think he’ll mind.” He played along. </p><p>“I hope you don’t tell that to everyone, I’m pretty sure your boyfriend does mind.” Jisung leaned forward and planted a soft and quick kiss on his soulmate’s lips, and then extended his hand with the bouquet towards him. </p><p>Minho’s eyes instantly lit up. “Oh my god, now I can make my own garden like Felix!”</p><p>The younger rolled his eyes but he laughed as he sat down on the chair in front of his partner. “Happy anniversary.”</p><p>“Of what?” Minho blinked several times feigning ignorance. </p><p>“Don’t play dumb, I know you know.” Jisung grabbed his boyfriend’s hand over the table.</p><p>“Right! It’s been one year since I almost managed to assassinate Seo Changbin. I still think I should've shouted louder.”</p><p>“Instead you made his dream come true. You found your soulmate. You still annoy him, though, so I don’t think it made any difference.”</p><p>“He would miss me too much if I didn’t.” Minho winked at him. You would think he would be used to it, but to this day, he couldn’t help but get flustered with those winks. “One year, huh? How do you feel after one year of meeting your soulmate and current extremely good looking boyfriend?”</p><p>There was no way to express it with words, so he leaned forward and kissed his indeed very good looking boyfriend again. It was still a short kiss, but Jisung tried to convey everything he felt. He was sure it did not do his feelings justice, he would have to kiss him many more times when they got home for it to represent even a small fraction of them, but the loving look in Minho’s eyes when they pulled apart was more than worth it.</p><p>At the end, Professor Yang Yeongin was right on one thing. Finding his soulmate had made Jisung’s life more colorful and alive, but not because of the actual color or any soulmate bond. Even if his eyes could only see black and white, every moment he had spent beside Lee Minho in the last year had made his life brighter. Even if he hadn’t been his soulmate, and he had just turned into a new friend like Jisung expected the first time they talked at the record shop, he would have wanted to be here, where they are right now. They didn’t need a special bond to be together, he didn’t need a special connection to be complete, they didn’t need color to live a vibrant life. They just needed love, and they had more than enough to light up their lives.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you for reading it &lt;3</p><p> </p><p>  <a href="https://twitter.com/linocaffe">my twitter!!</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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